Monday, September 18, 2017

Improving Python and Expanding Access: How the PSF Uses Your Donation

The PSF is excited to announce its first ever membership drive beginning on September 18th! Our goal for this inaugural drive is to raise $4,000.00 USD in donations and sign up 3,000 new members in 30 days.

If you’ve never donated to the PSF, you've let your membership lapse, or you've thought about becoming a Supporting Member - here is your chance to make a difference.

Join the PSF as a Supporting Member or Donate to the PSF

You can donate as an individual or join the PSF as a Supporting Member. Supporting members pay $99.00 USD per year to help sustain the Foundation and support the Python community. Supporting members are also eligible to vote for candidates for the PSF Board of Directors, changes in the PSF bylaws, and other matters related to the infrastructure of the foundation.

To become a supporting member or to make a donation, click on the widget here and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page.

We know many of you already make a great effort to support us; you volunteer your time to help us keep our website going, you join working groups to help with marketing, sponsorship, grant requests, trademarks, Python education, and packaging. Even more, you help the PSF put on PyCon US, a conference we couldn’t do without the help of our volunteers. The collective efforts and contributions of our volunteers help drive our work. We will forever be grateful to the people who step forward and ask, “What can I do to help advance open source technology related to Python?”

We understand that not everyone has the time to volunteer, but perhaps you’re in a position to help financially.

We’re asking those who are able, to donate money to support sprints, meet ups, and community events. Donations support Python documentation, fiscal sponsorships, software development, and community projects. They help fund the critical tools programmers use every day.

If you're not in a position to contribute financially, that's ok. Basic membership is free and we welcome anyone who would like to join at this level. Register here to create your member account, log back in, then complete the form to become a basic member.

What does the PSF do?

We fund great projects. So far this year we have approved over $200,000.00 USD in grants to over 140 events worldwide. We’re on track to surpass last year’s total of $265,000.00 USD in grants to 137 events in 45 different countries.

We organize and host PyCon US. This year’s event brought together 3,389 attendees from 41 countries, a new record for PyCon! Our sponsors’ support enabled us to award $89,000.00 USD in financial aid to 194 attendees.

We celebrate awesome Python contributors. Community Service Awards are given out quarterly, honoring individuals who support our mission.

We implemented a trial Python Ambassador program that we hope to expand in the next year. This program provides funding for a dedicated Pythonista to travel locally to perform Python outreach.

We provide fiscal sponsorship support for Python projects, where the PSF collects targeted donations and reimburses expenses on that projects' behalf.

We support Python programmers worldwide by funding sprints and workshops that enable people to work on Python-related projects that advance the mission of the PSF.

Here is what one of our sponsors has to say about why they contribute to the PSF:

“Work on stuff that matters is one of O’Reilly’s core principles, and we know how very much open source matters. The open source community spurs innovation, shares knowledge, encourages growth, and creates industries. The Python Software Foundation is a prime example of the power of open source, showing how focused, thoughtful, and consistent efforts can create a community whose impact extends far beyond meetups and lines of code. O’Reilly is proud to continue to sponsor this great foundation.”
-- Rachel Roumeliotis, Vice President at O’Reilly Media and Chair of OSCON

Lastly, if you’d like to share the news about the PSF’s Membership drive, please share a tweet via the tweet button here:

Donation & Membership Drive @ThePSF. Help us raise $4K and register 3K new members in 30 days! http://bit.ly/2h3dxpb #idonatedtothepsf

The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of a diverse and international community of Python programmers.